Wisconsin lawmakers are not much closer to finalizing a budget today than they were two and a half months ago, when the 2007-09 biennial budget was supposed to take effect. Senate Democrats continue to demand increased funding for the UW System, stewardship and health care while Assembly Republicans continue to demand a budget that works "within the means of taxpayers."

While the Legislature's failure to pass a budget won't result in a shutdown of the state government, the delay is straining state institutions. The UW System has already put a hold on financial aid for 5,000 students, while the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has warned the delay could halt roadwork on several highways. Furthermore, if the budget delay continues into October, stagnation in public school funding could force a massive increase in property taxes.

With these items threatening statewide stability, it is time to take concrete steps toward ending this legislative cold war by dumping an item instrumental in forcing this standoff: Healthy Wisconsin.

Since proposing Healthy Wisconsin, a statewide universal health care plan that raises taxes by $15 billion, Democrats have made it clear that compromise is not an option. This measure forced Assembly Republicans to resort to bombastic measures by creating a budget that actually increases the state's structural deficit while markedly reducing funding and taxes for the UW System, shared revenue and public broadcasting.

Although legislators continue to spar over the minutia of specific budget issues — K-12 education, most recently — the Democrats' Healthy Wisconsin proposal has placed an insurmountable roadblock that stalls progress on every other budget item.

We recognize that Healthy Wisconsin deserves an honest and comprehensive debate in the Legislature. The proposal offers a possible, if radical, solution to Wisconsin's health care woes and merits closer examination.

However, a full discussion of the proposal's pros and cons is impossible within the highly politicized confines of these budget negotiations. It is hard to escape the sense that Democrats offered this proposal as a massive bargaining chip with which to extract Republican concessions. If Democrats seriously wanted to seriously implement this proposal, they would have introduced the plan earlier in the process. A crippled Wisconsin is not worth this ill-conceived power play: Drop the bill and move forward.